This invention relates to medium and high pressure pump systems for supplying a cryogenic fluid from a storage tank and methods of operating such systems to remove both liquid and vapor from the storage tank to reduce the need for venting. A particularly advantageous application for the system and methods is for supplying a cryogenically stored fuel to an internal combustion engine.
Natural gas has been used as a fuel for piston engine driven vehicles for over fifty years but the drive to improve efficiency and reduce pollution is causing continual change and improvements in the available technology. In the past, natural gas driven vehicles (NGV) were naturally fumigated, that is, natural gas was introduced into the cylinders through the intake manifold, mixed with the intake air and fed into the cylinders at relatively low pressure. The fuel supply system for such an NGV is relatively simple. Fuel is held in and supplied from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicle tank with working pressure just above the engine inlet pressure, or from compressed natural gas cylinders (CNG) through regulators that reduce the pressure to the engine inlet pressure.
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is commonly stored at ambient temperatures at pressures up to 3600 pounds per square inch (24,925 kPa), and is unsuitable for trucks and buses due to the limited operating range and heavy weight of the CNG storage tanks.
On the other hand, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is normally stored at temperatures of between about xe2x88x92240xc2x0 F. and xe2x88x92175xc2x0 F. (about xe2x88x92150xc2x0 C. and xe2x88x92115xc2x0 C.) and at pressures of between about 15 and 200 psig (204 and 1477 kPa) in a cryogenic tank, providing an energy density of about four times that of CNG.
However, better efficiency and emissions can be achieved if the natural gas is injected directly into the cylinders under high pressure at the end of the compression stroke of the piston. This requires a fuel supply system that can deliver the natural gas at a pressure of 3000 pounds per square inch gauge (psig) and above. This makes it impossible to deliver the fuel directly from a conventional LNG vehicle tank and it is impractical and uneconomical to build an LNG tank with such a high operating pressure. Equally, it is impossible to deliver the natural gas fuel directly from a conventional CNG tank as the pressure in such a tank is lower than the injection pressure as soon as a small amount of fuel has been withdrawn from the CNG tank. In both cases, a booster pump is required to boost the pressure from storage pressure to injection pressure.
Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) Pump
High pressure cryogenic pumps have been on the market for many years, but it has proven difficult to adapt these pumps to the size and demand of a vehicle pump. In general, cryogenic pumps should have a positive suction pressure. It has therefore been common practice to place the pump directly in the liquid so that the head of the liquid will supply the desired pressure. The problem with this approach is that it introduces a large heat leak into the LNG storage tank and consequently reduces the holding time of the tank. The holding time is the time it takes for the pressure to reach relief valve set pressure.
Some manufacturers have placed the pump outside the storage tank and have reduced the required suction pressure by using a large first stage suction chamber. The excess LNG which is drawn into such a chamber, over that which can fill a second chamber, is returned to the LNG tank and again, additional heat is introduced into the LNG, which is undesirable.
Another problem with a pumped LNG supply is that it is difficult to remove vapor from the LNG storage tank. With low pressure gas supply systems, this is easily done. If the pressure in the LNG tank is high, fuel is supplied from the vapor phase thereby reducing the pressure. If pressure is low, fuel is supplied from the liquid phase. This characteristic of a low pressure system substantially lengthens the holding time, which is very desirable as mentioned above. Extending the holding time cannot be done with conventional LNG pump systems that draw from the liquid phase only and cannot remove vapor.
Gram U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,374, issued May 2, 1995, and its two divisional patents, U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,690, issued Dec. 26, 1995, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,488, issued Sep. 3, 1996, disclose embodiments of a cryogenic fluid pump system and method of pumping cryogenic fluid. The cryogenic fluid piston pump functions as a stationary dispensing pump, mobile vehicle fuel pump, and the like, and can pump vapor and liquid efficiently even at negative feed pressures, thus permitting pump location outside a liquid container. The piston inducts fluid by removing vapor from liquid in an inlet conduit faster than the liquid therein can vaporize by absorbing heat and causing pressure in the inlet conduit to be lowered. The differential pressure between the vapor pressure in the conduit and the vapor pressure within the tank pushes the liquid into the pump. The piston moves at essentially constant velocity throughout an induction stroke to generate an essentially steady state induction flow with negligible restriction of flow through an inlet port. The stroke displacement volume is at least two orders of magnitude greater than residual or dead volume remaining in cylinder during stroke changeover, and is greater than the volume of inlet conduit. As a fuel pump, the pump selectively receives cryogenic liquid and vapor from respective conduits communicating with the tank, and pumps cryogenic liquid to satisfy relatively heavy fuel demand of the engine, which, when satisfied, also pumps vapor to reduce vapor pressure in the tank while sometimes satisfying relatively lighter fuel demand.
Conventional, prior art cryogenic pumps are typically centrifugal pumps, which are placed either in the liquid inside the storage tank, or below the storage tank in a separate chamber with a large suction line leading from the tank, with both the pump and suction line being well insulated. Because a cryogenic liquid is at its boiling temperature when stored, heat leaked into the suction line and reduction in pressure will cause vapor to be formed. Thus, if the centrifugal pump is placed outside the tank, vapor is formed and the vapor will cause the pump to cavitate and the flow to stop. Consequently, prior art cryogenic pumps require a positive feed pressure to prevent or reduce the tendency to cavitation of the pump. In a stationary system, the positive feed pressure is typically attained by locating the pump several feet, for example, 5-10 feet (about 2-3 meters) below the lowest level of the liquid within the tank, and such installations are usually very costly. On board fuel storage systems for vehicles use other ways to provide positive feed pressure. Also, centrifugal pumps cannot easily generate high discharge pressures to properly inject fuel directly into the cylinder of an internal combustion engine and that are also desirable to reduce fuelling time for fuelling station applications.
Reciprocating piston pumps have been used for pumping LNG when high discharge pressures are required or desired, but such pumps also require a positive feed pressure to reduce efficiency losses that can arise with a relatively high speed piston pump. Prior art LNG piston pumps are crankshaft driven at between 200 and 500 RPM with relatively small displacements of approximately 10 cubic inches (164 cubic centimeters). Such pumps are commonly used for developing high pressures required for filling CNG cylinders and usually have a relatively low delivery capacity of up to about 5 gallons per minute (20 liters per minute). Such pumps are single acting, that is, they have a single chamber in which an induction stroke is followed by a discharge stroke, and thus the inlet flow will be stopped half of the time while the piston executes the discharge stroke. Furthermore, as the piston is driven by a crank shaft which produces quasi-simple harmonic motion, the piston has a velocity which changes constantly throughout its stroke, with 70% of the displacement of the piston taking place during the time of one-half of the cycle, that is, one-half of the stroke, and 30% of the piston displacement occurring in the remaining half cycle time. The variations in speed of the piston are repeated 200-500 times per minute, and generate corresponding pressure pulses in the inlet conduit, which cause the liquid to vaporize and condense rapidly. This results in zero inlet flow unless gravity or an inlet pressure above boiling pressure of the liquid forces the liquid into the pump. In addition, the relatively small displacement of these pumps results in relatively small inlet valves which, when opened, tend to unduly restrict flow through the valves. Thus, such pumps require a positive inlet or feed pressure of about 5 to 10 psig (135 to 170 kPa) at the feed or inlet of the reciprocating pump unless the inlet valve is submerged in the cryogenic liquid in which case the feed pressure can be reduced. Large cryogenic piston pumps, with a capacity of about 40 gallons per minute (150 liters per minute) have been built, but such pumps are designed for very high pressure delivery, require a positive feed pressure and are extremely costly.
A medium or high pressure pump system supplies a cryogenic fluid from a storage tank and a method of operating such a system. The system comprises a pump that is operable to pump cryogenic liquid or a mixture of cryogenic liquid and vapor, and the method comprises controlling mass flow rate by supplying to the pump from the storage tank, cryogenic liquid or a mixture of cryogenic vapor and liquid. More particularly, the method comprises:
(a) selecting a first operating mode in which cryogenic liquid from the storage tank is supplied to the pump to substantially fill a compression chamber with liquid to achieve a high mass flow rate; and
(b) selecting a second operating mode to achieve a mass flow rate lower than the first operating mode by selectively supplying cryogenic liquid and vapor simultaneously to the pump from the storage tank wherein the vapor fraction is higher for the second operating mode compared to the vapor fraction for the first operating mode.
The pump system may comprise an inducer disposed between the storage tank and the pump compression chamber. The inducer precompresses the cryogenic fluid prior to introducing the fluid to the pump compression chamber(s). When the pump system is operating at maximum capacity by selecting the first operating mode, the inducer stages are defined as the stages in which substantially all of the cryogenic vapor is condensed, such that only cryogenic liquid is supplied to the pump compression chamber(s). Accordingly, when the pump system comprises an inducer, some vapor may be supplied to the system even when the first operating mode is selected. When the second operating mode is selected, some vapor is supplied to the compression chamber(s) where such vapor is condensed during the compression cycle, but with a consequent reduction in the flow rate through the pump system.
When the pump system does not comprise an inducer, and the first operating mode is selected, then only liquid is supplied from the storage tank so that the pump compression chamber is substantially filled with liquid to achieve a high mass flow rate. When the second operating mode is selected, cryogenic vapor and liquid are simultaneously supplied to the pump compression chamber with the vapor being condensed within the pump compression chamber during the compression cycle, but with the flow capacity through the pump being lower than the flow capacity through the pump when the first operating mode is selected.
Because it is advantageous to store some gaseous fuels under cryogenic conditions, the method may be employed to pump a cryogenically stored fuel to an internal combustion engine. To provide a steady supply of high pressure fuel to an engine the method may comprise delivering fuel from the pump to an accumulator vessel and selecting an operating mode to control mass flow rate to maintain pressure within a predetermined range within the accumulator vessel. The volume of the fuel conduits and manifolds between the pump and engine may be sized to have a volume such that these conduits and manifolds themselves act as the accumulator, obviating the need for an actual xe2x80x9cvesselxe2x80x9d. The pressure may be monitored within the fuel conduit or manifold downstream from the pump, or within an accumulator vessel, if employed. The mass flow rate supplied by the pump system is controllable to maintain the monitored pressure within a predetermined range to ensure sufficient pressure for supplying the fuel to the desired application, such as an internal combustion engine. The method may further comprise increasing the vapor fraction supplied to the pump when vapor pressure within the storage tank is higher than a predetermined value or when the monitored pressure downstream from the pump is above a predetermined set point. That is, the vapor fraction can be increased to reduce vapor pressure in the storage tank to reduce or prevent the need for venting, or to continue operation of the pump system at a lower mass flow rate when pressure downstream of the pump is above a predetermined set point.
In a preferred arrangement for the pump, the inlet is associated with a first end of the pump and the outlet is associated with a second end, which is opposite to the first end. The heat of compression transferred to the cryogenic fluid during the compression process dissipates from the pump with the discharged fluid. With this preferred pump arrangement, the fluid passages within the pump are preferably arranged so that the cryogenic fluid flows through the pump progressively from the first end to the second end. In this arrangement, heat from the compression process is not transferred from the discharge fluid to the fluid being induced into the pump, as is the case with prior art pumps that have inlets proximate to outlets or discharge conduits proximate to induction conduits or chambers.
When the second operating mode is selected, the vapor fraction that is supplied to the pump is preferably maintained below a predetermined maximum vapor fraction by restricting the flow of vapor through a conduit between the tank and the pump. When the vapor fraction is too high, a reciprocating pump is unable to condense substantially all of the cryogenic vapor, and the pump will not operate efficiently. For specific operating conditions, maximum vapor fraction may be empirically determined or calculated to designate as the xe2x80x9cmaximumxe2x80x9d vapor fraction, a vapor fraction that maximizes the amount of vapor that may be supplied to the pump while ensuring that substantially all of the vapor supplied to the pump during normal operation is condensable within the pump.
For example, in some systems an orifice may be employed for restricting the flow rate of vapor through the conduit between the tank and the pump. In other embodiments, the system may comprise a metering valve for controlling the flow rate through the vapor conduit between the tank and the pump. In such systems an electronic controller may be programmed to change the setting of the metering valve to control the amount of vapor that flows through the conduit in response to measured operating conditions, such as pressure measured downstream from the pump or vapor pressure measured in the storage tank.
When the first operating mode is selected, the method may further comprise closing a valve to prevent vapor from being supplied from an ullage space of the storage tank to the pump. xe2x80x9cUllage spacexe2x80x9d is defined herein as the vapor space within the storage tank. The valve is preferably an electronically controlled valve with an actuator, such as a solenoid, mechanical, pneumatic, or hydraulic actuation mechanism.
In a preferred method of operating the pump, it is driven at substantially a constant speed by employing a linear hydraulic motor. For example, the pump may be set to operable at a constant speed between 5 and 30 cycles per minute.
When the pump has been shut down for a period of time, it may be desirable to cool down the pump before it can begin to function properly. That is, if the temperature of the pump is too warm, cryogenic fluid introduced into the pump will immediately boil or vaporize, preventing the pump from being able to pump cryogenic fluid to higher pressures. A preferred cooling procedure for preparing the pump for operation comprises the following steps:
(a) introducing cryogenic liquid from the tank into the pump;
(b) returning vapor created within the pump to the tank, thereby increasing pressure within the tank; and
(c) using the increased pressure within the tank to force more cryogenic liquid from the tank into the pump.
Once the pump has been cooled to the normal operating temperature, a valve controlling the flow of cryogenic fluid back from the pump to the storage tank is closed. That is, once the pump is cooled to predetermined temperature at which the pump is operable to pump the cryogenic liquid and vapor in one of the first or second operating modes, vapor is prevented from returning to the tank.
In a second preferred embodiment, the system comprises a multi-stage pump that has at least three chambers for compressing cryogenic fluid. A first chamber and a second chamber each have a volume that is larger than a third chamber. In this second embodiment, the first and second chambers act as an inducer stage with the third chamber acting as a compression chamber. For this second embodiment, the method comprises:
selectively supplying a cryogenic liquid or a mixture of cryogenic liquid and vapor to the pump such that cryogenic fluid flows through an inlet into the first chamber;
compressing and condensing cryogenic vapor and compressing cryogenic liquid within the first chamber and transferring cryogenic fluid from the first chamber to the second chamber;
compressing cryogenic fluid within the second chamber and transferring the cryogenic fluid from the second chamber to the third chamber until the third chamber is filled, and then transferring cryogenic fluid remaining within the second chamber to the first chamber; and
compressing cryogenic fluid within the third chamber and discharging compressed cryogenic fluid from the third chamber through an outlet port.
In this second embodiment of the method, when a first operating mode is selected and the flow rate through the pump is maximized, the cryogenic fluid is being compressed within the second chamber and by the end of the compression stroke, substantially all of the gas or vapor that was within the second chamber at the beginning of the compression stroke has been condensed, such that substantially all of the fluid that is transferred to the third chamber is cryogenic liquid. When a second operating mode is selected and the pump operates at a lower flow rate some vapor may be transferred from the second chamber to the third chamber with the pump then operating with a reduced flow capacity.
In this second embodiment, excess cryogenic fluid induced into the pump is advantageously recycled from the second chamber to the first chamber, so that no vapor is returned from the pump to the storage tank during normal operation. This is an advantage over known systems that return excess cryogenic fluid to the storage tank since such systems introduce heat into the storage tank with the return of the excess fluid.
The method may further comprise employing a pressure actuated relief valve for controlling the return of cryogenic fluid from the second chamber to the first chamber.
The method may further comprise supplying the fluid from the pump to an accumulator and selectively introducing only cryogenic liquid to the pump when pressure within the accumulator decreases below a predetermined value. The accumulator may be an actual pressure vessel or the fluid conduits and manifolds themselves, which collectively provide an accumulator volume.
When the pump comprises at least three chambers for compressing cryogenic fluid and a reciprocating piston assembly divides the three chambers, in a preferred method the pump operates in the following manner:
(a) during a retraction stroke, retracting a piston, and thereby,
increasing the volume of a first chamber of the pump and selectively introducing into the first chamber, a cryogenic liquid or a mixture of cryogenic vapor and liquid supplied from the storage tank;
decreasing the volume of a second chamber of the pump, compressing cryogenic fluid within the second chamber, transferring cryogenic fluid from the second chamber into a third chamber until the third chamber is filled, and then returning cryogenic fluid from the second chamber to the first chamber until the retraction stroke is completed;
increasing the volume of a third chamber of the pump and receiving cryogenic fluid from the second chamber into the third chamber until the third chamber is full; and
(b) during an extension stroke, extending the piston, and thereby,
decreasing the volume of the first chamber, compressing cryogenic fluid within the first chamber, and transferring cryogenic fluid within the first chamber to the second chamber;
increasing the volume of the second chamber and drawing fluid into the second chamber from the first chamber;
decreasing the volume of the third chamber, compressing fluid within the third chamber, and ejecting cryogenic fluid through an outlet from the third chamber.
At the end of the extension stroke, the volume of the second chamber is preferably between about four and ten times larger than the volume of the third chamber when the piston is at the end of the retraction stroke. Further, the volume of the first chamber at the end of the retraction stroke is preferably larger or substantially equal to the volume of the second chamber at the end of the extension stroke. With this arrangement, the first chamber has sufficient volume to accept substantially all of the excess cryogenic fluid that may be recycled from the second chamber to the first chamber. In a preferred configuration of the pump, at the end of the extension stroke, the volume of the third chamber is substantially zero.
In a third preferred method of operating a reciprocating pump for pumping a cryogenic fluid from a sump of a cryogenic storage tank, the pump comprises at least two chambers divided by a reciprocating piston assembly. This method comprises the following steps:
(a) during a retraction stroke,
increasing the volume of a first compression chamber of the pump and introducing into the first compression chamber a cryogenic fluid supplied from the storage tank;
decreasing the volume of a second compression chamber of the pump and thereby compressing fluid within the second compression chamber and ejecting compressed fluid from the second compression chamber and out of the pump; and
(b) during an extension stroke,
decreasing the volume of the first compression chamber and transferring fluid within the first compression chamber to the second compression chamber;
increasing the volume of the second compression chamber and drawing cryogenic fluid into the second compression chamber from the first compression chamber, wherein the volume of the second compression chamber at the end of the extension stroke is less than the volume of the first compression chamber at the end of the retraction stroke so that when the volume of the second compression chamber is filled by fluid flowing into the second compression chamber from the first compression chamber, the remainder fluid is ejected from the second compression chamber and out of the pump.
In this embodiment, the volume of the second compression chamber at the end of the extension stroke is about half or less than half of the volume of the first compression chamber at the end of the retraction stroke. Preferably, the relative sizes of the first and second compression chambers are such that about an equal amount of fluid is discharged during the retraction and extension strokes.
The method may further comprise condensing cryogenic vapor in an inducer stage prior to introducing the cryogenic fluid into the first compression chamber.
The preferred system for pumping a cryogenic fluid from a storage tank comprises:
(a) a reciprocating pump comprising a suction inlet and a discharge outlet;
(b) a first pipe fluidly connecting the suction inlet to liquid within the interior of the storage tank;
(c) a second pipe fluidly connecting the suction inlet to vapor within the storage tank; and
(d) a restriction in the second pipe for limiting flow through the second pipe so that a mixture of liquid and vapor may be supplied from the storage tank to the suction inlet.
The restriction may be made, for example, by an orifice, a narrowing of the second pipe, or a metering valve. The restriction is preferably sized to maintain a vapor fraction supplied to the pump that is equal to or less than a predetermined maximum vapor fraction.
An advantage of one embodiment of the pump is that the pump may comprise a cold end disposed within a sump and a warm end opposite to the cold end, wherein the suction inlet is associated with the cold end and the discharge outlet is associated with the warm end. This arrangement prevents heat generated from the compression process from being transferred from the discharged cryogenic fluid to the cryogenic fluid being induced into the pump from the sump.
The system preferably further comprises a linear hydraulic drive connected to a piston of the pump. The linear hydraulic drive permits the piston to be drivable at a constant speed, which helps to reduce the creation of pressure pulses in the discharge pipe. In another embodiment, the pump speed may be changed to provide an additional means for influence the mass flow rate through the system to provide a greater range of selectable flow rates. However, this requires additional controls and apparatus for varying the speed of the hydraulic drive and the pump. The pump is preferably operable by the linear hydraulic drive at a fixed speed or at variable speeds, between 5 and 30 cycles per minute.